AP Psychology – Common Psychology Terms

This item tests the bystander effect, the tendency to help less when more people are present. The core idea is diffusion of responsibility: when several witnesses are there, each person feels less personal obligation to act because they assume someone else will intervene. This can be reinforced by ambiguous situations and social cues—if others don’t react, a person may interpret the event as non-emergency (pluralistic ignorance). So, a passerby in a busy setting may hesitate to help, waiting to see if someone else will step in. These other terms describe different ideas: executive functioning involves cognitive control and planning; circadian rhythm is about daily biological cycles; cognitive dissonance is the discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or attitudes and choosing a way to resolve that tension.